It was very nice of John Hoeven to tell us he is not running for the United States Senate. Of course, he did it too late for the Republicans to find someone else with the ability to fundraise to compete with Conrad. He announced it nice and early so that Conrad (and Dorgan) will feel safe to vote against the next Bush judicial nominee.
Thanks John!!
— Alexander K. McClure
Well, as most of you have heard, Governor Hoeven has decided not to challenge Senator Conrad for re-election next year. Former Governor Edgar has decided not to challenge incumbent Governor Blagojevich in Illinois.
This is why the Republican Party will never solidfy its role as the majority party in America. If Hoeven and Edgar were Democrats, they would be in the race already.
— Alexander K. McClure
Instapundit posted the good news that the horrible idea that the U.N. gain control of the internet domain system has been rejected. Bruce Kesler posted an excellent piece on this at Democracy Project yesterday.
— Lorie Byrd
The Gateway Pundit found a lovely organization willing to pay money to get dirt on politicians. Funny thing, though, the specific examples they give only pertain to wrongdoing on the part of Republicans. I guess they wouldn’t pay me if I sent a copy of this story along to them or any of the many compiled and linked by Gateway Pundit.
P.S. I should have included a moonbat alert about the Velvet Revolution Foundation for those who might have believed it was a somewhat sane group. If it is not immediately evident how wacky they are, a dead giveaway is that they are asking for is information on “the rigging of the 2004 Presidential election in Ohio.” Hmmm. I wonder if Keith Olbermann founded the group.
— Lorie Byrd
Michelle Malkin has information about Harry Reid’s blogging venture and even provides this link for those wishing to share their thoughts with the minority leader. In the same post, she also has some information about and links to a rather juicy scandal that appears to have a connection to Harry Reid.
UPDATE: It appears that the comments were closed sometime after Michelle posted a link to the site. Still, go check out the “Give’em Hell, Harry” billboard, just for chuckles.
— Lorie Byrd
My senator, Elizabeth Dole, met with Cindy Sheehan yesterday:
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and peace mom Cindy Sheehan met privately to discuss the war in Iraq and parted as divided in their views as ever.“Some of the inflammatory statements that have been made by Ms. Sheehan and her political organization undermine the overall War on Terror and are extremely detrimental to our men and women in uniform in harm’s way,” Dole, R-N.C., said in a statement after the 10-minute private meeting on Thursday.
Dole, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was “a gentle lady,” and “a warmonger,” Sheehan said. She used the same epithet to describe Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam veteran who has supported the war in Iraq, after a meeting with him Wednesday.
I find the use of the term “peace mom” to be an incredibly inaccurate description of Cindy Sheehan, but most of the descriptions I might suggest probably would not be considered very politic. Hat tip: Jennifer.
— Lorie Byrd
Byron York has a column at NRO about a documentary called “The Big Buy” about Tom Delay, corporations and Texas politics. Ronnie Earle allowed “extraordinary access” to the documentary filmmakers.
The film, according to the description, “follows maverick Austin DA Ronnie Earle’s investigation into what really happened when corporate money joined forces with relentless political ambitions to help swing the pivotal 2002 Texas elections, cementing Republican control from Austin to Washington DC.”
Isn’t it funny that Democrats think that the only reason Republicans are successful in Texas is due to corporate money or redistricting. Redistricting done by Democrats years ago was the only thing that kept them competitive in the state for many years. Do they not realize that Texas is full of tough, independent, religious, pro-military, pledge of allegiance reciting, meat-eating cowboy types that don’t like to vote for people who want to take all their money and then tell them what they can and can’t do?
So far, The Big Buy has received almost no attention in the press. With DeLay’s indictment, and increased attention to Earle as well, that situation seems likely to change. (The filmmakers say they will be back at work next week, filming a new ending to the picture.) “We’re pretty low on everybody’s radar,” Schermbeck says. “We kind of took a gamble three years ago. We didn’t know what was going to happen. We feel like, as documentary filmmakers, we gambled and it paid off.”
It sounds to me like Ronnie Earle might have just given them the ending their film needed. I wonder if they will come back and film a new documentary if the Delay case turns out the way the Kay Bailey Hutchison case did with Earle basically saying “Never mind.” Or maybe they could have done a documentary on all those Democrats we keep hearing that Earle indicted.
UPDATE: From Candy in the comments thread:
I already had a recording on my voicemail today from someone calling herself “We the People”, falsely claiming Delay was indicted for conspiracy to commit “money laundering” and urging me to call my Indiana Congressman and demand he return $10,000 of “tainted money” received from Tom Delay, this when nothing in the indictment has anything to do with donations to any candidates outside of Texas.
This is not the first I have heard of this. Has anyone else received any of these calls?
— Lorie Byrd
John Hawkins asked bloggers, including me, for predictions and preferences on the next Supreme Court nomination. Here’s what he got.
Alberto Gonzales is wildly unpopular; every blogger choose him for their do-not-nominate list.
— PoliPundit
At the betting boards, Judge Karen Williams is favored to be the next Supreme Court nominee. I wouldn’t bet on her (literally and figuratively), but you can read more about Judge Williams here, here and here.
— PoliPundit
Chief Justice John Roberts’ political intuition could serve him well.
— PoliPundit